Blog

What if “Home” Wasn’t There?

Take a minute and think about your favorite place in your home. If you happen to be reading this at home, go to that favorite place and look around.

What’s your “sanctum sanctorum,” your best refuge? If you’re a writer, maybe it’s your office, with your trusty writing desk. (My desk is a secretary, old wood with a dark varnish, and it has all those cubbyholes that are so satisfying to look at even though they fill up so fast.) Or maybe your favorite place is your kitchen, with racks of spices neatly arranged, and gleaming pots and pans ready to be called into use for the next family meal. Or maybe it’s your den, with the recliner you can adjust to exactly the right angle, or the couch that knows your angles and curves, and the TV set up with all your favorite shows.

Put yourself in that place. Do it literally if you can. Think about what you enjoy when you’re there: the rhythm of cutting up veggies for soup, or the way your computer keys tap and click under your fingers when inspiration hits, or the way your favorite movie makes you laugh. Think especially about how it feels to go to that place after a long day, or after something has stressed you out, or if you’ve gotten tough news. In your refuge, you can rest and find comfort again.Now take a minute and imagine something more difficult. Imagine if your favorite place wasn’t there.

What would it be like if you had to go from one day, to the next, to the next, with no place where you felt safe? No matter how much you needed to, you wouldn’t be able to hole up and rest, forget the world for a while. You’d always have one eye open, or both eyes, watching for danger, worrying about what might happen next to you or your family.Exhausting, right? All of us get tired, but not many of us know what it’s like to get as tired as that. Imagine how it would feel. Imagine how badly you would want to change things, for yourself and your family, and how tough it would be if you knew you couldn’t.

Jamaica’s rural poor face this reality all the time. Creators of Hope wants to change this for them.​Creators of Hope is founded on the belief that every family deserves a safe place to call their own, and that building homes changes lives both for individual families and for the whole community. Learn more about our mission, get involved, and explore the way our group is changing the world for Jamaica’s people.​#GivingTuesday is coming on November 28. Consider supporting Creators of Hope on this international day of giving back!